Shutting Down

The game room so far, probly gonna get some darts going on too.

Ghetto kitchen
After having 14 people for Thanksgiving we had to take everything back out of the house for the drywall tape and texture which is currently under way. This could be the last post until spring as I am headed to Big Sky Ski Resort for the winter and the foreman is headed back to NH until May. Happy Holidays everyone!

This guy hung around for a week and a half. Here he was checking out Lafawnduh about 5 ft from the glass.
House with snow and rail
The Thanksgiving crew.
The Thanksgiving Whitetail Massacree

Juiced

We finally got the power company to hook us up. Dealing with them was a glaring example of why monopolies suck...bad. First, it took three weeks to get someone to come up and measure the distance from the end of the line to our place. After that, it took two weeks to get an estimate of $13 per foot for about 700 ft. Then they required payment up front of the entire sum before they would even put us on the schedule. It took two months for them to get to us and they bumped us on the schedule four times. Pop and I called them no less than fifty times throughout the whole ordeal. 

If I may interject a little politics, this is a classic example of what deregulation has achieved. This market is so small that the supposed "free market" is a farce. The rules set by the state that used to govern the power company have gone out the window and now and rates have gone up 375% since 1999 when deregulation went through. May I point to the deregulation of the banking system and it's subsequent greed fueled collapse as further evidence. Rant over. 

This here's a mountain chicken. Yummy. Only bit into one BB.
This is the view from my elk spot. Soon to come....elk pics, hopefully. 

Workin' it out.

This is a section of the log railing I'm building for the deck. 
Here's the place all sided. I've not yet addressed the roof. The color is Blackberry, kind of a purple/burgundy color. It is the first roof of this color ever sold in Western Montana. The pride for this pick...of course, goes to Pamelita (who also recently turned 47, congrats Ma)
Gable end

Sorry for the lack of pics folks, just got my camera back. The house is further along now, I'll have some updated ones on Monday.

We used local douglas fir to side the house. It's a rough sawn lap siding with a 6" exposure finished with a product called Lifetime. The product looks green now but in a few months it will turn a cedar gray on the north facing and brown on the sunnier exposures, like barn wood. 
This was the first significant snow. Last week of September. It all melted and it has snowed and melted about a dozen times since. Right now there's about 8 inches on the ground, but it's supposed to warm up again this week, which is nice for me. 
They sent us the wrong windows. The three to the right and the two on the gable end are a foot narrower than they were supposed to be, so we told 'em we'd use them but wouldn't be paying for them. They said, "ok".

Kind of a jumble of shots

Da Crew. Left to right: Zach, Carey, Roberto 

Roberto pontificating.

The view improves steadily

First day framing



Lickidy split

A couple days after this Pop was up there by himself and the bears got into camp and tore it up pretty good. He cleaned up and straightened, went back down the house (150 yard down the hill) and they came back in and repeated the process, tearing open all his rubbermaid bins, eating a 10lb bag of peanuts and generally trashing the place. I'm bringing my gun this week, stay posted for the pictures. 

Seriously though.

Here is the hole for the foundation. The floor height will be where the middle shelf is. 

These are the hailstones that pelted us while we were fishing on Sunday afternoon. They hurt. We hid under some bushes while it passed.
Pop said it was the first time he's ever been in the front of the canoe. This is the East Fork Resevoir.
Here's a look down the driveway from the road. The cellar hole is off to the right.
Everyone should click on this picture to get a larger view. This was after a nasty lightening storm passed, looking at our view from the campsite. The valley below is rolling hills and ranch land. 
Pop's biggest fish on a fly ever. About an 16" cutthroat caught on a grasshopper.
The Zuzu. 

BTW comments are now open to anyone. You don't have to log in, so go on ahead.

P-burgin' it

On Sunday Pop and I went into the nearest town of Philipsburg for the car show that was part of the Flint Creek Valley Days festivities. We were cracking up at this guy for his wig and that got the ball rolling for one hilarious photo session. You may need to click on the picture to see what's going on. Here goes.

Two very different responses to baldness. Note the facial hair to head hair ratio on the right. Hmmm.

Bitchinest shirt ever nominee #1

The guy above thinks he might have sharted. Again the head hair to facial hair rule is flaunted. Risky.

Drive hard indeed 

my friend. 

Drive hard.

Just a good look all around. 

Bitchinest shirt ever nominee #2

You may have to zoom in here but the guy looking into the window is wearing hiking boots with shorts and wool socks on a 97 degree day. Also of note, there are at least two people in this photo who have gone right ahead and tucked their t-shirt into their belt. If you are wondering "what's wrong with that?", and thinking to yourself "hey I do that too" I assure you that this is really effin' stupid looking. Fashion lesson over. 

Tank tops...

not for everyone.

Breakin'

Wildlife has been very frequent around "the site" this muley doe posed for us in mid-afternoon nap 15' from the road.

After 5 or 6 days of logging and clearing with a wedding, some fishing and swimming mixed in the excavator started Tuesday afternoon. He began by clearing all the brush and stumps we had produced, and started in on the driveway. We'll be taking a lot of material from the site as the ground is mostly loose rock under 8" of topsoil. It'll be a nice cost saver.
This is our campsite on the uphill side of the road from "the site". The view is incredible and it usually has a nice breeze. At night you can hear bears, deer and moose crossing the road because they knock rocks off the road cut creating a clatter. It has been getting down into the 40s at night and into the 90s during the day. Besides the first three days Pop was here it's been all sunshine and happiness.

This is the shittah with the same view as the campsite.

This is the East Fork Reservoir at the headwaters of the world famous Rock Creek. We were blown away when we came around the corner just 15 minutes from the site and were granted with this view. Wow. The thing is crystal clear and there isn't a single house on it, just some free campsites with a couple tents here and there. Deserted compared to near bye Georgetown Lake. In 15 minutes of fishing I caught an 18" Bull Trout. Can't wait to sink my teeth into it.

Heading back to Missoula on Tuesday evening to refresh and resupply we came across this black bear in the road. We would've had a better shot, but Pop wasn't familiar with my camera and it was on his side. doh! At least you can see it here.
That's all I've got for now, but we'll be pouring the foundation next week, and having the well dug in two and a half weeks. In the meantime, Pop's headed back to NH to do another of the Commonwealth Ave jobs he loves so well, and I'm headed to Alaska to do some Salmon fishing and see my sweetie. Once again, I dare someone to comment. Paz.

Startin' In

Pop and I started in on the clearing Sunday in beautiful weather. Pretty early on we felled this big puppy. The lodgepole pine stood about 150' straight up. 
The height of the tree made it a bit nerve racking, but after about 10 minutes it dropped right where we wanted it. 
Our excavator started in with a test hole for the septic system. The county inspector will look at the soil typed and determine what length drain field we'll need. After that he cut a driveway up to our campsite on the uphill side of the road. 
On a drive after dinner on Sunday we spotted this bull moose in the road. Pop gunned it so I could get all y'all the sweet picture of it's ass. 
This is Flint Creek below Georgetown Lake.
We were putting the boat in to go fishing on Sunday evening and one of the showers that had been rolling through every hour and a half created this double rainbow. Five minutes later the guy in the left foreground backed his pickup so far into the lake with his boat trailer, that the tailgate was under water. Think he might have had a few on the lake that day. I didn't take a picture because the guy on the right was next to me freakin' out. I said "teehee"